The beleaguered air carrier said it would conduct an
“enhanced review” of each worker’s attendance record from
December 23 to January 3 to figure out who should be
disciplined, or denied pay, because of the spike in sick
calls, the Associated Press reported.

US Airways Group Inc. canceled hundreds of flights in
the days around Christmas. The debacle left an estimated
10,000 undelivered bags at Philadelphia’s airport and
stranded travelers along the east coast.

Also, in a message to its employees, US Airways sought
volunteers willing to give up their New Year’s Eve plans
and work for free in Philadelphia. It said they could
expect to be used as customer greeters, ramp agents or
baggage sorters.

The president of the US Airways unit of the Association
of Flight Attendants posted a message on the union’s Web
site this week chastising workers who failed to report to
work over the holidays. “By now, we have all seen the
reports on the news about the operation of our airline over
this past holiday weekend, and how that operation failed
miserably. This was caused, unfortunately, by a minority of
employees who appear to have decided to take some type of
action against the company,” wrote Perry Hayes. “Sadly, the
employees who took this action may ultimately cause the
failure of the airline.”

Union leaders have denied there was any organized effort
to get workers to call in sick, and some dispute that this
year’s sick calls were much different from those around any
other holiday. Some 306 called out sick on Christmas Day
this year, compared to 298 in 2003, according to the news
report.